Leo Tolstoy is most renowned for his literary works, War and Peace (186569) and Anna Karenina (187577), which are frequently recognized as two of the greatest novels ever produced. They are great examples of realistic fiction that eloquently represent a conception of the human condition based on a respect for commonplace values and ordinary life.
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What is the philosophy of Leo Tolstoy?
- Why does the average individual with the least amount of theoretical knowledge and a job have no doubts about the purpose of life? How does Russell’s description of the practical person compare to Tolstoy’s description of this kind of person?
- Tolstoy thinks that the only knowledge or religion that can sustain life is illogical. He specifically mentions the working class’s faith.
- The four approaches he provides for addressing the question of life’s meaning do not apply to working people:
- First, avoidance of the question and ignorance of it.
- Second, the Epicurean philosophy of losing oneself in life’s joys.
- Third: The “power and energy” required to commit suicide.
- Fourth: The frailty of simply continuing to live.
- Because they lack the “rational” understanding of educated people, common laborers do not fit into these categories of life’s meanings; instead, they believe that there is unlimited meaning outside of the illusory finite boundaries of the physical world.
- Describe Tolstoy’s understanding of religion in detail. How does Tolstoy define “faith” in relation to “truth”? Is “irrational knowledge” a meaningful concept from a philosophical perspective?
- Only faith can give life purpose. Living a human life means having faith in things that are unprovable. Faith is unscientific knowledge.
- Even though Tolstoy was a Christian, it is important to note that he is not evangelizing for it. He makes the point that a religion’s superstitions are not necessary for that faith.
- Tolstoy defines faith as belief in the relationship between the finite and the infinite. According to him, the only faith that can truly give life purpose and possibility.
- Reflection, the arts, and the sciences are nothing more than food for thought.
- “Truth” is the meaning assigned to this life.
- Take note of how the essay’s concept of “truth” has evolved:
- Truth 1: The pursuit of a comfortable lifestyle
- The reality of death is Truth 2.
- The chapter “Art Evokes Feeling” of the aesthetics book Readings in the History of Aesthetics, which is available on this website, summarizes Tolstoy’s thoughts on art.
- He established the Russian realistic novel as a literary genre that rivals Elizabethan theatre and classical Greek tragedy in importance and influence. The works of other novelists can be judged by the standards set by his finest works, according to appreciation for them.
- He emphasized the moral and ethical aspects of Christianity but rejected the idea of a personal contact with God, departing from Russian Orthodoxy.
- He was profoundly moved by the Sermon on the Mount’s teaching on love.
- The division of labor, capitalism, and private property were all criticized by him.
- He was an early proponent of passive resistance and nonviolent protest. These concepts had an impact on Mohandas Gandhi after he read Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is Within You. Gandhi established “Tolstoy’s Farm,” an experimental commune, and exchanged a few brief letters with Tolstoy.
- Tolstoy had a strong interest in youth development and education.
- He developed the lifelong habit of maintaining a diary or notebook of his thoughts, goals, and deeds starting in college.
- His entire life was spent on a strict self-study regimen.
- On the basis of his theories, some of his adherents constructed utopias.
- His philosophy of simplifying life caused issues with his wife once he made all of his writings available to the public. He passed away while traveling to a monastery to spend his final years.
- Notes on the passage “Only Faith Can Give Truth” from Tolstoy’s A Confession in Reading for Philosophical Inquiry are organized in answer to the questions listed below.
- Give a philosophical and psychological analysis of Tolstoy’s “arrest of life”.
- Here is a man who had everything going for him, including fame as a brilliant novelist, fortune, and national esteem. He claims that these prevented people from considering the purpose of life.
- The way Tolstoy depicts his life is strikingly similar to Bertrand Russell’s portrayal of the practical man: “…teaching what was for me the only truth, namely, that one should live so as to have the best for oneself and one’s family.”
- Tolstoy went through what he refers to as “An arrest of life” in which he was unsure of how to proceed. The purpose of existence had become meaningless.
- The same concerns apply: Why (do this)? So what if I do, then? And if I don’t, what happens? The queries partly remind me of the phrase, “Is that all there is?”
- To argue that Tolstoy was only going through a “mid-life crisis” would be psychologizing from a psychiatric standpoint.
- Tolstoy had no idea how to behave or how to live. He also conveys a feeling of “beingness towards death.” (See the entry on Albert Camus about the “midpoint of life curve”).
- Tolstoy also captures Camus’s feeling of being “undermined” in the following words: “I felt that what I had been standing on had fallen and that I had nothing left under my feet.”
- But he had complete control of his mental faculties.
- Tolstoy, once more, predates Camus’s sense of the absurd: “My life is a dumb nasty prank played on me by somebody.” For Tolstoy, neither a single deed nor his entire life had any rational significance.
- The parable “The Well of Life,” which is taken from the Hindu text “The Mahabharata,” illustrates the peril of life in vivid detail. (Note that the allegory’s references to authorship and family are meant to represent what Albert Camus will later refer to as “eluding” from life.)
- Tolstoy offers a number of definitions of “truth” in this reading. He first defines “truth” as “daily existence,” then he adds “death,” and last he comes to the conclusion that “truth” is “faith.” Explain what each term of “truth” implies before pointing out the similarities and differences between it and the other definitions Tolstoy provides. Which of these definitions, if any, do you believe the majority of people would concur is the “reality” of their lives?
- Tolstoy first says, “…teaching what was for me the only truth, namely, that one should live so as to have the best for oneself and one’s family,” as was previously mentioned. Financial and literal success made his poor opinion of the worth of his work more difficult to see.
- Simply said, “the truth” is that I shall pass away. The reality is death.
- This fact is the one certainty in life, according to Tolstoy. We will pass away, as well as the people we care about.
- In chapter one of his book Barry Lyndon, William Makepeace Thackeray succinctly stated, “…good or bad, rich or poor, beautiful or uglythey are all equal today.”
- Tolstoy claims, “Living is made possible by faith. Although I continued to find faith to be as irrational as before, I was forced to acknowledge that it is the only thing that provides mankind with an answer to the big problems of life and, as a result, is what makes life possible.” Even though Tolstoy was a Christian, it is important to note that he is not evangelizing for it. He makes the point that a religion’s superstitions are not necessary for that faith. Faith involves a subjective perception of God or the infinite rather than reason.
- Why, in each situation, cannot knowledge of the areas of knowledge (science), abstract science (mathematics and metaphysics), or speculative knowledge (philosophy) produce a meaningful life, according to Tolstoy? Do you concur with his evaluations?
- First, Tolstoy says that art is a means of adorning, distracting from, or eluding life.
- The concept of a decoy is to persuade or attract us into a trap.
- Poetry and art are a reflection of reality rather than an exact picture of it. (Consider this concept in light of Plato’s theory of the good.)
- Think about the common example of the relevance of watching a movie as opposed to living your own life. Anyone can get up, leave the theater, and declare, “I have my own life to live.”
- Tolstoy observes in terms of science that the acknowledgment of our significance is destroyed by the fact that we are a part of the infinite. His account is consistent with how the levels of phenomena in the world today are understood, as well as how these levels attempt to explain the human situation. The Different Phenomenal Levels
What is the best book by Tolstoy?
According to distinguished authors and laypeople alike, Anna Karenina, a masterpiece published in 1877, is the best novel ever written. It provides a startlingly accurate portrait of Russian society at the time. In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy’s first self-described novel, the titular Russian society woman, initially constrained by social mores, dares to leave her loveless marriage in search of an illegal love and suffers fatal results. If you only read one Tolstoy novel, it should definitely be Anna Karenina, according to Fyodor Dostoyevsky, another giant of Russian literature, who called it a “flawless piece of art.”
Leo Tolstoy, a theist, did he?
Having been up in the Russian Orthodox Church, Tolstoy became atheist at the age of 18. In his early 50s, after living a life of excess, he desired returning to religion or another source of intellectual security.